Shameful hiding
by Ahai
Summary: Vash, Wolfwood, Millie and Meryl are on their way to the beach, but Vash doesnt seem to be so exited about that... Why and what will happen? Read and find out:) Pairings: Vash & Meryl and slight Wolfwood & Millie


"Come on everybody, let's go!" Millie exclaimed happily and was practically towing Wolfwood. Vash, Meryl, Millie and Wolfwood were on their way to the beach. With all the drama that was going on in their lives, they deserved at least a whole day off from all this and had to do something relaxing and entertaining. Since it was a hot day today, they decided that the beach was a good option. Actually, one of them didn't want to go to the beach at all. Early in the morning when they were talking about what they were going to do today and when the beach trip was suggested, Vash almost screamed out a NO! But when he saw how happy Meryl got by this suggestion, he agreed. Besides they would go to the beach even if he had said no, it was three against one after all.

"Are you ok, Vash?" Meryl asked him.

When the four of them were walking, Vash was looking down on the ground and he was grasping his arms. He dreaded to go to the beach.

"Umm… Yeah, I'm fine" He said as low as a whisper.

"Vash, I can see something is bothering you" She said with a stern tone but switched to a softer tone when she asked him one more question.

"What is the matter?"

"I can't go to the beach, people will be frightened" Vash said still looking on the ground and grasped his arms tighter.

"What are you talking ab….!" Meryl suddenly stopped and lightly slapped her forehead.

The scars! She completely forgot them! Meryl was so used to them that she didn't think of it as anything bothersome and considered them as something normal. How could she not notice the dread in his eyes? One could see that Vash was not dressed for beach wear. She, Milly and Wolfwood wore shorts and tank tops while Vash wore his standard red coat, heavy boots and those long gloves. Meryl and Vash stopped walking.

"Huh? What is going on?" Millie asked.

"It's nothing serious, just go and we`ll meet at the beach" Meryl said.

"Oki doki!" Millie said and kept on walking and continued towing Wolfwood.

Meryl put a hand on his shoulder and looked at him gently.

" Vash, its ok. No one will see your scars when you are dressed like that"

"I know, it just feels like that"

"I promise that no one will stare at you"

"Really?" Vash asked and slightly looked up.

Meryl nodded. And then Vash took her hand as they walked towards the beach, hand in hand. Meryl was blushing. Why was he holding her hand? But Meryl didn't complain she actually liked it a lot.

"_If they do stare at you, then it's because you are so handsome" _Meryl blushed more at her thought.

Her feelings now changed to victory because she was the one having her hand held by him, the man she was in love with….

* * *

The beach was crowded with people. A bunch of people ran around half naked but luckily there were a few who were completely covered with clothes as well. Those people kind of made it more comfortable for Vash, he didn't care that they were old people and middle aged parents.

"Vash, Meryl, over here!" Millie yelled and jumped up and down so Vash and Meryl could see where she and Wolfwood were.

Since Millie made it very easy for them to notice her, they came to her right away. The spot Millie and Wolfwood picked out was near the sea and they laid out a huge blanket on the ground, a blanket that was big enough for all four to sit on, and they struck out a parasol. They, except for Vash, stripped down to their swimwear. He sat down on the blanket with his knees to his chin under the parasol, hiding as much as possible. Meryl looked at him and felt sorry for him. She looked around the beach to see if there were anything they could do to make Vash not to think of and worry about his scars.

"Come Vash, let's go" Meryl said and reached her hand out to him.

"Where are we going?" Vash looked up.

"Over there to play volleyball" Meryl said and pointed at the area where some people played volleyball.

Vash hesitated a bit. Go playing volleyball sounded like fun, but his fear of people finding out about his scars scared him a little bit. But seeing Meryl reaching out her hand for him with a gentle smile and that she showed kindness of including him, made the fear fade a little away.

"Ok!" Vash said with enthusiasm and grabbed her hand so he could stand up.

"Hi you two!" One of the volleyball players said "Do you want to join?"

Vash and Meryl nodded.

"Ok, the girl can join this team and inspector Gadget here can join us" Said one of the male volleyball players.

As the time went by, both Vash and Meryl had tons of fun. Since they were against each other, both their competition instincts obsessed them. Although there were times they lost a serve against each other both of them just laughed it off and kept playing. Both of them played with good teamwork with their teams. When Meryl was about to serve she was interrupted by a scream.

"Oh my god! That is so disgusting!" One of the girls from Meryl's team yelled out.

Vash had taken of his coat and all the other clothes covering the top, so he was now showing his bare upper body, revealing his scars. During the volleyball game he became warmer and warmer so he took of the clothes covering the top so he wouldn't drown in his own sweat. But Vash has been having so much fun that he probably forgot that he was hiding his scars! Everybody from both volleyball teams saw his scars and they were staring at him out of surprise and disgust, except for Meryl who was looking at him with pity and empathy with water in her eyes. As both of the teams continued to point at him and come with nasty comments, Vash ran away with watery eyes. Vash ran so fast that he was out of the beach in only seconds. Meryl hit and dropped the volleyball hard in one of her male teammate's stomach and ran after him.

* * *

Meryl was now away from the beach looking for Vash. How could those people be against him like that, even his teammates? How would they have felt if they were in the same position as Vash? Meryl walked around in a little seashore filled with rocks that wasn't far away from the public beach. She found him sitting on a huge rock with the knees into his chest, burying his face. Meryl ran towards him, climbed up and sat next to him on the rock. Vash jumped and buried his face more deeply into his knees as he felt someone being near him.

"Vash its ok, its me, Meryl"

Vash slowly raised his head up and looked at Meryl. His eyes were a bit red and his cheeks wet.

"_He has been crying…" _Meryl thought.

Although his head has been raised, his body was still curved into a ball. He had his arms around his knees and he hunched down as much as he could.

"Vash…" Meryl started.

"Don't look at me" Vash said quietly and turned his head away from her.

"I am so sorry, Vash" Meryl said trying to catch his glance "They had no right to-"

"It is true" Vash said and looked at Meryl again "My scars are awful, I AM awful!"

Meryl was shocked to hear this. Did Vash really think that? Does he at all remember the reason why and how he got these scars?

"No! Vash, you are nowhere near awful!" Meryl exclaimed and grabbed his shoulders,making him let go of his hunching position.

"Those people were ignorant! They didn't think one second about the reasons for your scars!" Meryl tightened her grip on his shoulders and looked in his eyes.

"The world is so unfair to you, Vash. People hurt and try to kill you not knowing who you really are while you never kill and you rescue anyone no matter if they are good or bad."

"But who would ever like me when I look like this?!" Vash exclaimed.

Did Vash now talk about like him as in love him, in a romantic way? Maybe this was time for Meryl to confess her love to him.

"If a woman do love you" Meryl began " The woman would not care at all about your scars, she should love you because of your kindness, that you always save people, that you think about love and peace, that you are always there for others helping them although it takes on you, your annoying but cute humor.

Meryl stopped talking and took a break, but then soon continued:

"And all those other things, like, your muscular body, your spikey looking but still soft hair, those gorgeous blue-green eyes, that cute little dot under your eye, the way you eat doughnuts, your true smile, oh and…!"

Meryl immediately stopped talking and put a hand to her mouth realizing that she was now telling him every single thing SHE liked about him.

Vash, stunned to hear so many nice things about him, asked:

"Do you really think so, Meryl?"

"I KNOW so, Vash, cause I…"

Would it be right to admit it now? Vash cried not long ago and people were mean to him, so would it then be right to confess her love for him now? Well, she has already gone far so then she might as well get over it, even if he doesn't feel the same way.

"..I-I love you…" Meryl blushed madly and now she was the one who buried her face into her knees.

"What?" Vash was shocked to hear this.

"I love you! I have loved you for a long time now"

"How can you love me? You always seem to be mad at me"

"I had some problems accepting and understand these feelings, so I guess I took it over you, sorry"

Meryl pulled Vash into a hug.

"You really love me? Don't my scars freak you out?" Vash asked.

"They don't bother me at all! All I care about is that you are a good man. No matter how many scars, no matter if you lose your leg or your other arm, I will love you no matter what"

Meryl pulled him out of the hug and Vash just looked at her.

"I am sorry that I confessed during these circumstances and I don't know if yo-.."

Meryl couldn't finish her sentence, cause this time it was Vash who pulled her into a tight hug, a hug so tight that she couldn't move at all. Meryl was stunned with surprise.

"Thank you, I never thought anyone would be so kind to me" He said

Meryl felt something wet drain down to her neck.

"Are you crying Vash?" She asked after being pulled out of the hug.

"Yeah, but this time I am happy" He said and dried his eyes with his hand.

Vash took Meryl`s hand and lightly kissed her knuckles.

"And what man would I be for not loving such a kind woman like you?"

Meryl smiled, leaned into Vash and he took his arm around her and they both watched the sun slowly fade away.

* * *

"It's getting late, do you want to go back?" Meryl asked.

Vash looked down. He wasn't sure about meeting the volleyball people again; he had no shirt available so they would have to see his scars again.

"Don't worry about them, I will be with you."

Meryl held Vash`s hand and got up.

"Let's just go back to get our stuff and then we can go home"

Vash nodded and got up. As they began walking he lightly clung to her arm looking a bit nervous.

"_He is still so insecure..."_ Meryl thought.

When the two on them returned to the beach, Vash`s fear came true.

"Look, the patchwork has returned!" A guy playing volleyball said and pointed at Vash.

People were still playing volleyball, some new and some the same people Vash and Meryl played with. As the guy said what he said some reacted with disgust and some just made a stoic face. Vash let go of Meryl's arm and tried to hide himself by cowering himself with both arms. Meryl, being mad, stormed towards the guy and punched him hard right between the eyes. All the others were stunned as they saw the guy fall over and afterwards he put a hand into his bloody nose.

"Leave him alone! What rights do you have for saying such?"

Meryl tightened her blood soaked fist.

"What if you had scars like that? Imagine all the hell a person has been trough for getting scars like that and then persons make fun of those reminders from the hell, so just shut up and leave him alone!"

Meryl loosened her fist and shook the blood of it. The guy was bleeding through his hand and was silent, although one could see in his eyes that he said "Y-y-yes ma`am"

Meryl picked up Vash`s clothes from the spot he took them off, turned her back to the guy and went towards the spot where their things were. Vash, snapping out of his surprise, followed her.

"Don't you think that you went overboard?" He asked.

"Well, I didn't kill him" She said.

* * *

"Hey, were have you two been?" Wolfwood asked.

"Uhm, we just played volleyball and went for a walk, but Vash and I are leaving now" Meryl said.

As Meryl started to pack together her things, Vash gripped her hand.

"I-I-I, Uhm…" He began.

"What is it Vash?" Meryl asked concerned.

"It is still not that late, so can't we go for a swim?" He asked.

"Are you sure?" Meryl asked.

Vash nodded.

As he and Meryl went on their way towards the ocean, they were stopped by Millie when she gripped their wrists.

"You can't go anywhere now without putting on sunscreen" She said holding up a bottle.

"But Millie, the sun is almost gone, so we don't need-"

"Put on sunscreen, I don't want you to get sunburned, and Nicky will be as red as Vash`s coat"

"No, I won't!" Wolfwood exclaimed.

"Oh, you just wait and see" Millie smiled and poked the tip of Wolfwoods nose.

Vash and Meryl knew that Millie wouldn't give up convincing them so they took the bottle of sunscreen poured an amount into their hands and started to rub it to their skin.

"Let me rub sunscreen on your back Vash" Meryl said.

Vash turned his back to her. As Meryl poured a little amount to her hand and touched Vash`s back, he flinched.

"Oh, does it hurt?" Meryl asked when she saw she placed her hand right on a scar.

"No, no, it just felt a bit chilly" Vash said and shivered when Meryl rubbed the sunscreen around.

After fifth teen minutes or so, Vash and Meryl went towards the sea. Swimming would be a perfect activity for Vash. His body wouldn't show, he didn't have to wear tons of clothes and that is something you normally do on the beach. As they were walking, Meryl could hear some girls whisper as the two of them passed by.

"_Look at those scars! Poor him"_

"_Yeah, he must have been through a lot"_

Although the girls whispered really low, Meryl could hear them. She smiled at them for saying empathic things instead of nasty ones . Meryl smiled at this.

"_I have to admit that scars are sexy, and he is really handsome"_

With that comment, Meryl's smile turned into a frown.

"Are you coming, Meryl" Vash said and he already swam around in deep water.

"Huh? Oh, yes I'm coming" Meryl didn't notice that she stopped up as she was listening to those girls whisper.

"_Don't even think about it, he is my man!"_ Meryl thought and went out to the water, having fun with Vash.

* * *

"Oh my god!" Wolfwood exclaimed and flinched.

"You are a priest so don't say the lords name in vain!" Millie said.

"But it freaking hurts!"

"I told you so, didn't I?" Meryl smirked.

They were all back home again and as Millie said, Wolfwood ended up being as red as Vash`s coat. Millie was putting on aloe on his sunburn, or she was trying to.

Meryl and Vash sat in another room amused by the priests painful yelling.

"Guess it was a good thing we did as Mille said, huh?" Vash said.

"Yeah" Meryl said "And you managed not getting burned although you didn't put on sunscreen before we left"

"The sun must have been friendly towards me" Vash said.

"And just look at you! The sun gave you some freckles, that's so cute!"

Meryl cupped his cheeks and eskimo kissed him. During this nose rubbing, Vash lightly gripped the back of her head and kissed her with passion. Although Meryl was astonished by this, she kissed him back not holding anything back at all. As they broke apart from the kiss, Meryl looked at him with a smile and a hint of surprise.

"That is what people do when they are in love with each other, right?" Vash asked.

"Yes" Meryl answered and sat down onto his lap.

Vash felt happy. Now he could be with someone without her freaking out because of his scars, and most importantly, be with someone he loved. And what were they gonna do this night as a new couple? Make love? Maybe, but first they were gonna continue watching Millie trying to treat her boyfriend's sunburn. With Wolfwoods reactions, this could take all night…


End file.
